Page 27 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - February 2023 Edition

Chinese Spy Balloon Over US & Canada 27

Chinese spy balloon over

the US: An aerospace

expert explains how the

balloons work and what

they can see

Continued from Page 26

What types of surveillance are spy
balloons capable of?

I don’t know what’s on this particular spy
balloon, but it’s likely to be different
kinds of cameras collecting different
types of information.

These days, imaging is conducted across
different regions of the electromagnetic
spectrum. Humans see in a certain range
of this spectrum, the visible spectrum.
What does that say about the
And so if you have a camera and you take
There is an internationally accepted nature of this balloon, which
a photograph of your dog, that’s a visible
boundary called the Kármán Line at 62
photograph. That’s one of the things spy China confirmed is theirs?
miles (100 kilometers) altitude. This
aircraft do. They take regular
balloon is well below that, so it is
photographs, although they have very China has complained for many years
absolutely, definitely in U.S. airspace.
good zoom capabilities to be able to about the U.S. spying on China through
magnify what they’re seeing quite a lot. satellites, through ships. And China is
Which countries are known to be also well known for engaging in

But you can also gather different kinds of using spy balloons? somewhat provocative behavior, like in
information in other parts of the the South China Sea, sailing close to
electromagnetic spectrum. Another fairly The Pentagon has had programs over the other nations’ boundaries and saber-
well-known one is infrared. If it’s last few decades studying what can be rattling. I think it falls into that category.

nighttime, a camera operating in the done with balloons that couldn’t be done
visible part of the spectrum is not going in the past. Maybe they’re bigger, maybe The balloon doesn’t pose any real threat
to show you anything. It’s all going to be they can go higher in the atmosphere so to the U.S. I think sometimes China is
dark. But an infrared camera can pick up they’re more difficult to shoot down or just experimenting to see how far they
things from heat in the dark. disable. Maybe they could be more can push things. This isn’t really very
persistent. advanced technology. It’s not serving any
How do these balloons navigate? real military purpose. I think it’s much
The broad interest in this incident more likely some kind of political

Most of these balloons literally go where illustrates its unusual nature. Few people message. []
the wind blows. There can be a little bit would expect any country to be actively
of navigation, but there are certainly not using spy balloons these days.
people aboard them. They are at the
mercy of whatever the weather is. They The U.S. flew many balloons over the
sometimes have guiding apparatus on Soviet Union in the 1940s and 1950s, and
them that change a balloon’s altitude to those were eventually replaced by the

catch winds going in particular high-altitude spy airplanes, the U-2s, and
directions. According to reports, U.S. they were subsequently replaced by
officials said the Chinese surveillance satellites.
balloon had propellers to help steer it. If
this is confirmed, it means that its I’m sure a number of countries around
operator would have much more control the world have periodically gone back to
over the path of the balloon. reevaluate: Are there other things we
could do now with balloons that we
What are the limits to a nation’s couldn’t do before? Do they close some
gaps we have from satellites and
airspace? At what altitude does it
airplanes?
become space and anybody’s right

to be there?